Protective device for electrical apparatus.



R. H. MANSON.

PROTECTIVE DEVICE FOR ELECTRICAL APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 15, 1910.

%ii' nl iiiiiiiiii Wifivesses lnvenfor 1 Ray /7. Manson xi gwzh 5.9 KW

Hi5 Alforney Patented ma 7, 1912.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BAY H. MANSON, OF ELYRIA, OHIO, ASSIGNOR T0 DEAN ELECTRIC COMPANY, OF

ELYRIA, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO. I

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 7,1912.

Application filed June 15, 1910. Serial No. 566,902.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that. I, R-AY H. Manson, a citizen of the United States, residing at. Elyria, in the county of Lorain and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Protective Devices for Electrical .-\pparatus; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to protective devices for electrical apparatus, such-as are used to protect the apparatus from high voltage destructive discharges of current and more particularly to such as are used as a guard against injury done by discharges of lightnmg.

I contemplate the use of my device with telephones, but. may apply it wherever such a device may be useful.

The use or non-use of a lightning arrester upon a telephone is determined largely by the character of the telephone line upon which the arrester is to be used, upon the section of the country in which the telephone is installed, or upon local laws and regulations. For example, when telephones are used in rural sections lightning arresters are desired, and when they are used in sub-tropical climates where thunder storms are of frequent occurrence, such protection is practically imperative. In some sections the local laws require that lightning arresters shall be mounted outside the building. In this case to use a phone with an arrester thereon duplicates that instrument and increases the expense unnecessarily. On the other hand, in urban sections, a lightning arrester is not necessary. To design and manufacture two lines of apparatus, such as telephones to supply these divers demands, entails considerable expense and trouble to the manufacturer. To meet this contingency, I have designed apparatus having circuit connections and a lightning arrester to be used therewith. The lightning arrester is adapted to be mounted upon or removed from the telephone according to the desire. This enables meto supply the same telephone to the trade which demands such an instrument and to the trade which de* mands it without, permitting me to exercise such economy in designing, manufacturing and marketing these instruments,

My invention will be best understood by reference to the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying illustrations, showing one specific embodiment thereof, while its scope will be'more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my device. Fig. 2 is an end elevation. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the arrester with the carbon block removed. Fig. 4 is a. side elevation of the same. Fig. 5 is a vertical cross section through the center line of Fig. 3. Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 7 is a side elevation of the device as shown in Fig. 1, illustrating the other side.

Referring to the drawings and the embodiment of my invention, there shown, I have illustrated my invention as applied to a telephone.

1, is a side or end of the telephone box.

2 is a. block of insulation mounted upon the side of the box and fastened there by bolts 6 and 6. Binding posts 3, 3 and 3" are mounted upon one side of the block 2. 4, 4 and 4" are conducting clips connected with these binding posts, both the binding posts and clips being fastened to the block by bolts a. On the other side of the block, spring clips 5 are held in position by the bolts a and are placed in electrical contact with the binding post and the clips 4: by these bolts. The upper end I) of the clips 5, is resilient and tends to engage the side of the block.

At 7 I show a conductor which leads to one of the binding posts, each binding post can be connected by a similar conductor to electrical apparatus, to ground or making other connections.

At 8 I show conductors which lead to the telephone apparatus and which are connected to the clips 4 and 4".

At A, I show the lightning arrester which consists ofa base 9. This base is pierced with three holes 11, 14 and 17. Three conducting members 10, 13 and 16 are mounted upon one side of the base 9. A finger extends from each of these through the holes in the base to the other side thereof. The finger of 10 is shown at 12; that of 13 is shown at 15 and that of 16 at 18. The arrester is pierced at 20 to permit the same to be at tached by screws or other means to the mounting plate as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

l A carbon: block is then fastened over the i three conducting members by a knurl headed screw ,23. The carbon. block'22 is in'su lated from. the conductors-10, 13. and 16 by The arrester is then fastened by screws or other means to the instrument and the same is adapted to be used where a lightning arrester type phone is desired. The center member 10 may be connected to ground. The other members may be connected to the line conductors. In case of a high voltage discharge, passing over the line, the same arches through the carbon block to the center member and passes to ground.

It will thus be seen that I have accomplished the purpose of producing a device which enables'me to manufacture a single type of telephone for the two uses which I have mentioned. While I have shown this particular form, Ido not desire to be limited thereto, but seek such protect-ion as the claims allowed in this case may extend to me. I have shown this single form alone because it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that numerous and extensive departures from the form and details of the apparatus here shown may be made without departing from the spirit of this invention, the same being herein shown solely for the purpose of clearly illustrating one specific embodiment.

I claim- 1. In a device of the class described, the combination of a casing, an insulating terminal rack mounted on the inside of said casing, binding posts mounted on said rack, spring clips connected to said binding posts and attached thereby to said rack, electric conductors connected to said terminals and leading to the exterior of said casing, the

passing through a third opening in saidbase, said fingers adapted .to pass through the openings in the-casmg and engage the clips when the lightning arrester is mounted on the casing.

2. In a device of the class described, thecomhination of a casing, a terminal rack mounted upon one side of said casing, terminals for electric conductors mounted on said rack, spring clips connected to said terminals, said casing being perforated adjacent each clip, a lightning arrester consisting of a base having a plurality of perforations therein, a pair of conducting members arranged upon the periphery of a circle, a finger upon each of said members turned down and passing through said openings in the base, a third conducting member mounted within the circle, and likewise having a finger bent downward and passing through the opening in the base, said fingers adapted when the arrester is mounted on the casing to pass through the opening therein and engage the clips upon the rack.

'3. In a device of the class described, the combination of a casing, an insulating member mounted on the inside of said casing, electrical terminals carried by said member, conductors connected to said terminals, spring clips carried by said member and connected to said terminals, said casing being perforated adjacent to said clips, a lightningarrester including a pair of substantially semi-circular conducting members and metallic fingers carried by said arrester and connected to the conducting members thereof, said arrester adapted to be removably mounted on the outside of the frame and when so mounted to fit with its bottom flat against the casing, said fingers adapted to penetrate the perforations in the casing spanning said casing engaging the spring clips to connect said conductors to the conducting members of the arrester and to retain the arrester on the frame, substantially as described.

4. In a device of the class described, the combination of a casing, an insulating terminal rack mounted on the inside of said "casing, binding posts mounted on said rack,

line with said other two fingers, said arrester adapted to be removably mounted on the outside of the frame and when so mounted, to fit with its bottom flat against the casing, said fingers adapted to penetrate the perforations in the casingspanmng said casing engaging the spring clips to connect said conductors to the conducting members of the arrester and to retain the arrester on the frame substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

RAY H. MANSON.

Witnesses:

A. D. T. LIBBY, F. O. RICHEY. 

